ROSENDALE, N.Y. -- The state Department of Environmental Conservation has accepted as complete the final environmental impact statement for the proposed resort and housing development at Williams Lake.

The acceptance starts the clock on a 30-day period during which the department must complete a State Environmental Quality Review findings statement, a set of guidelines for the project.

The statement, though, could be a denial of the project or an approval with conditions.

If state approval is granted, the town of Rosendale then will issue its own findings statement, hold a hearing about requested zoning changes and review the developers' site plan, according to Brian Cafferty, a representative for developer Hudson River Valley Resorts.

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Cafferty said on Thursday that all approvals should be in place in time to start construction next year.

The resort would comprise a 500-seat conference center, two restaurants, a 17,000-square-foot spa, a 4,000-square-foot fitness center, an 800-square-foot pizza café, and 800-square-foot recreation center, a historic interpretive center and a trail network.

The construction would cover about 70 acres of the 779-acre property.

Cafferty said the environmental impact statement that now has been accepted by the state addresses concerns that have been raised about the proposal.

"I would like to give some credit to (Rosendale Councilwoman) Manna Jo Greene because she was one of a number of people who urged us to do onsite workforce housing" as part of the project, Cafferty said. "That's a big one ... and they aren't isolated off on some different area. They are interdisbursed within all the market-rate housing on the project."

The developer wants the Town Board to give the property its own zoning designation -- the Binnewater Lakes Planned Conservation Development Area District. Critics of the project have said there is a conflict of interest in having the developer draft zoning amendments.

Critics also have said the project does not conform with the town comprehensive plan and that town officials would not have enough authority over determining whether land-use regulations are being followed.